Child compliance is considered an important precursor to later conscience and social development (Grusec, 2006; Feldman & Klein, 2003). A specific type of noncompliance (i.e., assertive noncompliance) can be also considered a positive indicator of children's developing autonomy and assertiveness. The goal of the current study was to examine whether the ability of older toddlers (at 36 months) to self-regulate, measured by inhibitory capacity, mediates the relation of earlier parenting styles (at 24 months) to child compliance and three types of noncompliance (at 36 months). 969 mother-child dyads (≈ half boys; aged 24 to 36 months; M=35.43 SD=2.78), drawn from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care (1998), provided data. In the hierarchical multiple regression analyses, results indicated that children's inhibitory capacity partially mediated the relation of maternal sensitivity to compliance and passive noncompliance controlling for child's inhibitory capacity. Moreover, the full mediator effect was also found; the effect of intrusiveness on passive noncompliance became insignificant, when controlling for child inhibition. These findings suggest that not only did maternal sensitivity and intrusiveness relate to child compliance and passivity, but the child inhibitory capacity was also an important part of this development. Furthermore, the results indicated that if once children attained the inhibitory capacity without external support in the `Don't' context, they would be more likely to comply or less likely to show passive noncompliance with parental demands later in the `Do' context.
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